>Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000 07:39:48 -0600 (CST)
>From: Kelly Pierce <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Seeing Eye Democracy
>Sender: [log in to unmask]
>To: Disability Policy List <[log in to unmask]>
>X_Mailing_List_Server: Majordomo 1.94.1
>X_Mailing_List_Provider: TRIPIL (http://www.tripil.com)
>Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask]
>
>The New York Times
>
>November 2, 2000
>
>Seeing-Eye Democracy
>
>By MINDY SINK
>
> DURING this election season, some blind and visually impaired
> voters will be able to cast their ballots in private for the first
> time using an electronic voting system that has been adapted for
> use by the disabled.
>
> Geneva Teagarden of Fort Worth cast her first secret ballot in
> early voting last month with the system, which uses a modified
> portable computer called the eSlate. Previously, Mrs. Teagarden,
> who is legally blind, had had the ballot read to her as she made
> her choices.
>
> "It sounds silly, but it made the hair on the back of my neck stand
> up," she said, describing her first private vote. "I didn't realize
> what a privilege it is to have that right to privacy."
>
> The eSlate system is one of several aids for the disabled that are
> being tested this year in some states. The eSlate, developed by
> Hart InterCivic of Austin, Tex., is being used in Tarrant County,
> where Mrs. Teagarden lives. It is also being tried in another
> county, which includes parts of Houston, and in two counties in
> Colorado. The machines have been in use since early voting began in
> these jurisdictions. (Early voting is available to all registered
> voters in 13 states. The option, which dates to 1988, is intended
> to increase turnout.)
>
> An eSlate is a tablet-size computer with a large display screen and
> large buttons for scrolling through ballot choices and recording
> votes, which are stored in memory for later downloading.
>
> The eSlate can be used by anyone, but because it can sit on a
> tabletop or be held in the hands, it is especially useful for
> people in wheelchairs. For the blind or visually impaired, an
> add-on speech synthesizer is used. The machines cost about $2,500
> each, and the synthesizer is another $1,000.
>
> In California, voters in some jurisdictions are using an electronic
> system developed by another Texas company, Global Election Systems,
> that has been adapted for use by the blind. And blind voters in
> Rhode Island and Nevada will have audio services available when
> they cast their votes on Election Day.
>
> Eight counties in California are experimenting with early voting
> this year and are also testing electronic voting machines made by
> Global Election Systems of McKinney, Tex., in some precincts. The
> AccuVote-TS has a touch screen and a 12-key pad, like a push-button
> telephone's, that can be adapted for audio use with a headset and
> be used by the blind.
>
> "We found that blind people are familiar with the phone pad, even
> more than they are with reading Braille," said Larry Ensminger,
> vice president for business development at Global Election Systems.
>
> Curtis Chong, technology director of the National Federation of the
> Blind in Baltimore, said the eSlate is the machine favored by his
> organization and many blind people like himself who have tested it
> along with other machines.
>
> "ESlate is one of the first systems that is being marketed as a
> viable, real product you can buy today," Mr. Chong said. "Other
> machines had weaknesses like touch screens that could not verify if
> you had marked the right place on the ballot. With e- Slate you can
> hear it click as it rolls through the settings."
>
> In Baltimore, where Mr. Chong votes, blind voters can use the
> services of a human reader or a partial Braille ballot. Mr. Chong
> said it is difficult to ignore voice inflections of readers whether
> a friend, a spouse or an elections judge while making ballot
> decisions.
>
> The eSlate "cuts across every demographic because of its ease of
> use," said Neil McClure, vice president of the election solutions
> group at Hart InterCivic in Colorado.
>
> "It's like a laptop," Mr. McClure said, "but you don't have to know
> how to use a computer. People are saying it's easy and even fun to
> use."
>
> In Texas, legislation was signed last year requiring all ballot
> equipment to be accessible by the disabled, and lever machines and
> punch card technology can no longer be purchased (most are no
> longer manufactured). The use, design and purchase of voting
> systems is usually governed by the secretary of state and done on a
> county by county basis.
>
> "This is the next generation of voting equipment technology that is
> becoming available as computerized systems become more efficient
> and less expensive," said Jerry Meadows, senior vice president of
> the election solutions group at Hart InterCivic.
>
> According to the Disability Statistics Center in San Francisco,
> there are more than 30 million disabled Americans of voting age.
> The National Federation of the Blind estimates that 1.1 million of
> those voters are blind or visually impaired.
>
> John Novotny, 43, of Breckenridge, Colo., is one of a handful of
> disabled voters in Summit County, which is also testing the eSlate
> system. He often voted with the assistance of a friend who read the
> ballot to him. He recently voted with the eSlate.
>
> "I got to cast my own ballot," he said, "with the same right as
> every person in the United States, as is guaranteed under the
> Constitution."
>
>
|